Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus and a method of manufacturing an article.
Description of the Related Art
An imprint apparatus which forms an imprint material on a substrate using a mold has received attention as one of lithography apparatuses for mass-producing magnetic storage media and semiconductor devices. The imprint apparatus can form a pattern on the substrate by curing the imprint material supplied onto the substrate in a state in which the imprint material and the mold are in contact with each other, and separating (releasing) the mold from the cured imprint material.
Alignment between the mold and the substrate is generally performed in the imprint apparatus also in the state in which the mold and the imprint material are in contact with each other. At this time, because of the viscoelasticity of the imprint material, it is difficult to change the relative positions of the mold and the substrate in the state in which they are in contact with each other.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-244441 discloses a method of changing a proportional gain for driving a stage in a period when a mold and an imprint material start to contact with each other, and the mold and a substrate are brought close to each other. In a period when the distance between the mold and the substrate becomes constant, the proportional gain may be reduced gradually. Therefore, in a case in which alignment between the mold and the substrate is performed in the period when the distance between the mold and the substrate becomes constant, a time required for the alignment between the mold and the substrate becomes longer if the proportional gain is reduced, resulting in a decrease in throughput.